Pretences
by Generic Chimera
Summary: “Tell me something I don’t know.” “When I was three I started gymnastics and got to the highest level when I was seven...betcha didn’t know that.”
1. Misconceptions

Disclaimer: Buffy does not belong to me. Assorted wrestlers do not belong to me. Good for me. Fifteen years ago, the World Wildlife Fund changed it's name to the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Um, sorry if I'm dumb, but isn't that WFN?

Author: Chimera

Title: Pretences

Summary: Willow and Buffy come to visit Willow's cousin. Her cousin is the Undertaker. Matt Hardy is an a--hole. Which one doesn't fit? If you're leaning towards any of them, you'd better take a look at the real story…

Notes: Um…WWE timing…just after Royal Rumble 2002. And for the sake of this story, pretend that the Hardyz re-signed their contracts in February, not a couple of months ago. And oh yeah, X-Pac's back. Sorry to any X-Pac fans, but I just couldn't think of anyone else to fill in the role he plays. Buffy timing…geez…after the Tara/Willow relationship got started, but they broke up. No Dawn, no Glory, no Buffy death, Faith is out of coma and ass-kickin' around Sunnydale.

Plug: Lady Arianna's fics…Standing's fics…pandora's fics…yadda yadda…

2nd Plug: http://wrestlingfate.thaiandjen.com - the best and I think only Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossed with WWE site on the 'Net.

3rd Plug: (geez, I'm getting good at these…) http://midnitesoc.tripod.com/wrestle/art.html - some of the best wrestling art I've ever seen…that chibi-Edge and Christian sketch is so cute! 

   Willow was bouncing. And babbling, but that was the second thing people noticed. It wasn't exactly normal for a twenty-something female to be bouncing. Even in the WWE.

   "Calm down Willow!" Buffy exclaimed. Despite being Willow's friend for almost six years, this had reached a new level in caffeinated funkiness.

   "Can't calm down too excited why did you let me have coffee on the plane I will kill you later when I'm sane hey that rhymed I'm a poet now oh my gosh sorry mister!" Willow ended as she bounced into someone, knocking a bunch of papers out of the others' hand.

   The guy smiled at her, ducking down to the floor but not picking up the spilled folders. "No problem…" He cocked his head to the side, a wrinkle appearing just above his eyebrows. "I haven't seen you around before. What's your name?"

   "The hyper machine is Willow, and I'm Buffy," the Slayer said, instantly sizing the man up. Good build, honest eyes and face, reasonably normal attire…then again, she had known some of those in her time. Even green eyes matching Willow's couldn't be trusted. Neither could the street clothes of a 'LUGZ' singlet and long khakis. But those eyes…a lot of things hidden in those eyes.

   "Nice to meet you," the man offered, picking up the various documents scattered on the floor. As he reached around to pick up one that had gone behind him, Buffy couldn't resist. She checked out his butt. _Yummy…_ She raised her eyebrows as Willow bent over slightly to get a better look. She coughed a little, and Willow glanced over at her before hiding her face…blushing. "I'll see you around sometime," he offered as he collected the last of the papers. He waved as he walked away.

   "What's your name?" Buffy yelled as the man was about to disappear around a corner.

   The man turned, and it looked as if he was about to stop to hear the question again. Another, opposing yell from beyond the corner drew his attention, however, and he simply flashed two fingers and his thumb of one hand before moving out of sight.

   Willow had calmed down after her little high, and was glancing after the guy curiously. "He's nice."

   "Who was he?" Buffy asked.

   Willow shrugged. "What am I, Linda McMahon? The only connection I have to here is that my cousin works here. I've watched exactly one show, and that was back in what…98 when you went with me. Remember?"

   "That was weird…although that guy was incredibly cute," Buffy remembered dreamily, thinking of a certain long-haired blond with a kiss mark on his derriere.

   Green eyes rolled slightly in exasperation. "His name alone made the censor go nuts, and saying 'Suck it!' every five minutes was…probably the biggest turn-on ever wasn't it?"

   Buffy grinned. "It would be a challenge to do that much sucking."

   Giggling the two girls continued walking down the halls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Lita watched as Jeff rounded the corner, pausing for a moment before continuing, as if finishing a conversation with someone. "Come on dude!" she yelled, holding open the exit door. He finished the conversation, motioning with one hand and holding a bunch of papers in his other hand. "C'mon Hardy," she needled, sticking out her tongue at him. "Half an hour to get the contracts from Linda? You're losing your touch."

   "No, she just likes me," he said huffily, dumping the papers in the tiny trunk of their equally tiny rental convertible.

   "Where's Matt?" she questioned.

   "What do I look like, his keeper? Although that boy does need one…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   "I'm telling you, the Ass-man was cuter than the puppy!" Buffy insisted.

   Willow shook her head adamantly. "No way, Jose. Road Dogg is much cuter than Mr. Ass…" She frowned. "What kind of name is Mr. Ass anyway?"

   "A very good one, I'd like to imagine," a deep male voice said from behind them.

   Both girls screamed, whirling around in a bout of teenage-helpless-female syndrome. They met a good-natured grin, topped off by a mop of short blonde hair and laughing blue eyes.

   "You're…you're…" Buffy stammered.

   "I'm Billy, nice to meet you two," Billy Gunn said, offering a hand to Buffy. He lingered slightly as she slipped her hand into his, seemingly entranced by the Slayer.

   "Um, is it now I'm supposed to interrupt?" Willow questioned.

   Buffy spared her friend a glance. "Not yet. Give us a couple…more…hours…" she trailed, turning her gaze back to Billy.

   Willow rolled her eyes, and jumped again slightly as she noticed another guy coming down the hallway towards them. He had long blond (she instantly thought of a peroxide job) hair tied in a ponytail, and had a little bit of a baby face. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Billy and Buffy, and came to stand beside her, still not speaking. He pretended to consider something, then shook his head. 

   "He's gone," he said plainly. He moved his look towards Willow. "Hi. I'm Chuck. Do you think they'll be done any time soon?"

   Willow shrugged. "I'm Willow. And no, I don't think stopping is in the near future."

   "Uh, well, that's kinda bad, 'cause Billy needs to snap out of it. We have a match in about five minutes, and if he ain't participating I'm gonna get my ass kicked. No real pun intended."

   "Righto." Willow stared at Buffy and Billy for a few more seconds before yelling, "Just grope and make out already!" She turned back to Chuck. "So who're you wrestling?"

   "APA." At the blank look on her face he reiterated. "Faarooq and Bradshaw?" Willow just shrugged. "Acolyte Protection Agency?"

   "This isn't ringing a bell." Willow shrugged again. "I don't watch wrestling, sorry."

   "You're here visiting someone then?" Chuck questioned.

   "Yep, my cousin. Actually, more a mother's-sister's-son-in-law kind of deal."

   "Oh, the mystery thins. Would I know this cousin of yours?"

   "Most probably. He's a little hard to miss."

   "Okay, he's married…I would think…" He checked for confirmation as Willow nodded. "…hard to miss…" He shrugged. "There's a lot of guys here that fit the bill, sorry."

   "S'okay. He probably didn't mention me coming…he's kinda aloof-slash-antisocial."

   A stagehand passed, slapping Chuck on the shoulder and saying, "You guys need to get your butts in the ring. APA just went out."

   Chuck went pale, grabbing Billy's arm and dragging him off. "See you later!" he called over his shoulder.

   Willow and Buffy watched as they headed out of sight, Billy turning to look over his shoulder a few times.

   "Billy."

   "Road Dogg."

   "What would you know? You're gay, remember?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   The pair entered a small hallway, ending at a single red door. Buffy read his name on the door; raising her eyebrow at the funky devil design it was printed on. "Let's go."

   Willow opened the door, preparing to surprise her cousin. Instead, she was the one surprised.

   Matt snarled at the Undertaker, keeping the blade decisively between the two of them. "You know what I can do, Markie," he threatened. "In…and _out_ of the ring." 'Taker simply stared into his eyes, the brown swirls of colour furious in icy anger. "You touch them again…"

   "And what? You'll come up here and threaten me some more?" Mark asked, leaning down closer to Matt. That was only for a moment, as the forearm across the Deadman's throat kinda blocked any planned movement.

   Matt smiled a little. "I'll do more than threaten." He took the switchblade, currently resting on Mark's chest, and drew it slowly upwards, smiling larger as fear grew in Mark's eyes. He stopped at Mark's throat, tracing up and down lightly, his brown pools following the silver glint like they were magnetized together. "Ah'll do what Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels never got around to doing…end your career. It won't be in the ring, howevah," he whispered, a purring undertone in his voice.

   Suddenly he pushed himself away, flicking the blade closed in one movement. The dark-haired man glanced around, the feeling of being watched now overwhelming.

   "You've got visitors, Mark,' he smirked, pointing with the now-harmless pocketknife towards the door. "A cute brunette and a gorgeous redhead. Then again, you would know about redheads, wouldn't you?"

   Buffy was frozen. _Holy crapola, is this guy going to kill us?_ 

   Mark said nothing, apparently pleasing the man even more. "You asked me, Mark. Unfortunately I couldn't say much at the time but…was the bitch really worth it?" Matt flicked the knife into a pocket of his baggy cargo pants. "Now I ask you…were we really worth it?"

   He walked out, stopping at the door, just inches from Buffy and Willow. Buffy instinctively pushed Willow behind her, knowing her Slayer strength could be easily used if this guy tried anything.

   "Ladies," he acknowledged. He and Buffy stared at one another. An hour's worth of unspoken battles waged between the pair of light brown eyes belonging to the Slayer and a darker pair belonging to the stranger. He smiled a little, and bowed his head as if conceding to the Slayer. With a slight narrowing of her eyes, Buffy let him through, and he walked off without a care in the world. Just like he hadn't just threatened Willow's cousin's life.

   There was silence.

   "It always like that here?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   "So you actually decided to show up, hey hotshot?"

   Matt scowled, whacking Jeff upside the head. He overreacted comically, falling into the front seat beside Lita who was driving. She growled at him a little as his un-dyed blond hair blocked her vision of the road. "Idiot."

   He bounced back into a proper sitting position. As opposed to his normal position of propping himself against Lita and trying out his newest versions of puppy-dog eyes. "So what, you were giving out some nookies to Sean?" Jeff riled.

   Matt raised his eyes to the sky in search of non-forthcoming guidance on how to deal with obnoxious younger siblings. "No, Sean is not here. Believe me, I checked."

   Lita shook her head. "I think if he and Sean were huddled in a bathroom somewhere we'd be waiting a lot longer."

   "We can be quick when we want to be," Matt protested slowly. _Going through memories here…um, that was pretty much a lie, dude._

   Jeff raised a hand as they drove out of the car park. "This is very much heading for bad topics for my innocent and brotherly ears to be hearing." Glancing back at Matt, he saw his brother's dark eyes narrowed, and quickly got the message. Act normal, but we need to talk. He nodded imperceptibly, before turning back to Lita, who was oblivious. 

   "Aw, poor schnookums, you need a little help to get over your sexuality issues?" Lita teased.

   Jeff sent her a look. "Only if you help me," he said seductively before bursting out into giggles. 

   Matt rolled his eyes. "One word; EW!"

   "Oh shut up. Have you ever actually listened to yourself and Sean when you talk? It's sickening." The only redhead in the car made a face. "I love you sweetie," she mimicked.

   "No, I love you more!" Jeff replied, a grin on his face.

   "No I love you more honey!"

   "No, me!"

   "No, me!" 

   "No, me!" 

   "No, me!"

   "No, me!" 

   "No, me!"

   "No, me times infinity!"

   "Me times infinity plus one!"

   Jeff pouted.

   "You always win."

   Matt banged his head against the seat in front repeatedly. "I hate you people."

   "We love you too Matty bro."

   "Yeah, we love you…can I borrow your credit card when we get back?"

   Matt could only groan in response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   "Nice job you have here, Mark," Willow commented.

   Dark eyes frowned at her from under equally dark lashes. "Not all the time."

   "So who was that?" Willow pressed on.

   "Matthew. He's a little bitch. Pardon the language."

   Willow wrinkled her nose as Mark untangled his bootlaces. "Why was he so…"

   "…asshole-ish?" Mark questioned, then shrugged. "That's his nature. No one decent backstage actually likes him."

   "I'll keep that in mind," Willow responded quietly. Something had struck her as odd about this 'Matthew' person…something oddly familiar…those haunted eyes…

   Buffy had been silent, staring at the grey locker in front of her. The man had 'conceded' the opening battle of wills to her, but something that she couldn't put into words was in his eyes…a mixture of two things.

   Knowledge.

   And strength.

   She knew that battle of the eyes was a long time from the end.

   And the next time they saw each other he might not concede. He was too strong for that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   "Tonight?"

   "Tomorrow. My room. Three o'clock. Need to talk."

   The conversation was done in whispers. Jeff nodded again. His brother was really serious this time.

   Great. More death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Matt lay in bed that night, listening to the faintly rasping breath of his lover. He looked down at Sean, watching the faint gusts of breath blow around a few loose strands of flyaway black. He was nothing but indifferent to the pretence that was Sean, on the inside.

   Outside, he was a loving, caring boyfriend.

   With an equally loving, caring boyfriend.

   That just happened to cheat on him every time a nice ass or good pair of breasts walked by.

   With a sudden rush of certainty, he smiled. Matt and Sean would be as dead as DX in the morning.

   Considering that most of the members of DX weren't even wrestling anymore…

   He was a free man.

   Now, if only he could handle the Slayer with the same amount of certainty…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Buffy and Willow settled in for the night, jet lag catching up to them. After they had switched the lights off Buffy lay there, listening to Willow's breathing. She stared up at the ceiling; despite it being a pretty expensive hotel there was some kind of glow-in-the-dark paint spots arranged in some kind of pattern on the roof. In an effort to get back to sleep she started counting them, rearranging them, trying to figure out what kind of design they were painted for…

   Thirteen spots.

   Rearranging them led to a smiley face, a detailed cross, and a bottle.

   But the design…

   That was the unusual thing.

   It looked familiar, but she didn't know what it was from.

   "Can you please think quieter?" a sleepy voice from across the room complained.

   "Sorry Wills. Go back to sleep."

   "Can't. There's this little voice telling me that Buffy's doing something she needs me for. It's annoying, 'cause it won't let me sleep."

   Buffy smiled slightly. "Just trying to figure out what that is," she said, pointing up at the ceiling. In the dim light from outside, she saw Willow prop herself up on one elbow.

   "The glow-dark thingie?" she asked groggily. "It's omega."

   Buffy frowned. "Omega?"

   "The last Greek letter? Something like twenty-third in the alphabet?" Willow yawned. "Pronounced like the A-W in saw."

   Buffy frowned again. "Thanks Will."

   "G'night, Buff."

   She continued staring at the letter until she blinked once too often and sleep took over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
   Buffy circled slightly, glancing around the leafy green surrounding her.

   "Hello?" she tried.

   Willow came from out of the bushes, wearing a perky smile. Buffy felt a bolt of déjà vu go down her spine. "Willow," she tried.

   "Nine-one-one on speed dial," she said in animated voice matching her smile. 

   Buffy nodded slowly, bemusedly, as Willow disappeared back into the bushes. She slowly started walking, the forest around her suddenly ending. Carefully she stepped over a slightly rotted log onto what looked like a grassy field. Two figures were quickly getting bigger in her line of vision, one chasing the other.

   The shorter of the two came into view first, the chase-ee of the two. She narrowed her eyes as she identified the man as the one threatening Mark earlier that day. The chaser was none other than Willow's cousin Mark, but was dressed in what she presumed to be his ring gear; a black unitard and long leather pants.

   The shorter one stopped just in front of her, and those curious eyes held hers again. She was dimly aware of Mark actually running into the man, but it had no effect on the brunette. Mark stood behind the black-haired man, but the man ignored him. 

   Suddenly with a roar, Mark transformed into a red dragon-looking thing, her mind inexplicably going back to that snake-monster thing all those frat boys were praying to. The threaten-er quickly shoved her into the forest, and then pushed himself into the foliage. Both stood side-by-side as the dragon-snake-Mark rampaged for a while then suddenly shrank into something barely bigger than a mouse. She watched as the man next to her picked up the mini-version, it still giving out pathetic roaring squeaks as it was dropped into the man's pocket.

   Yet again, those eyes turned to her, and she stared.

   "We seem to keep running into one another, don't we?" he questioned. 

   "That we do."

   "My name is Matt."

   "People call me Buffy." She studied him. The brief meeting was just that - brief - and she had no real chance to check out the man. Brown curls sat strewn over his shoulder, a tiny matching beard under his chin. Pretty handsome, she had to admit. Would be 'her type', if not for the whole threatening-maniac thing.

   "All people?"

   Buffy raised an eyebrow. "All people who don't want a black eye."

   He nodded slightly, a half-smile along with a tiny arching of a brow sending him to the realm of really handsome really fast. With all the quickness of a cat he leant over and whispered into her ear…

   "Can I call you Slayer?"…

   Buffy jerked up, a thin ray of sunshine spreading across her forehead.

   "How the hell does he know I'm a Slayer?"

   Matt opened his eyes, somehow not surprised that the other side of the bed was cold. 

   "Oh, this is going to be fun…"


	2. Explainations

Title: Pretences

Author: Chimera

Disclaimer: Matt and Jeff Hardy don't belong to me, all hail Vince McMahon, Buffy and Willow don't belong to me, all hail Joss Whedon.

Summary: Matt and Jeff have that talk, Buffy meets…someone, and Willow ponders.

   "…No, there are no vampires around…no demons either…no Giles, I have not found a mutated wrestler living in the arenas. Look, I wanted to ask if you could-…no, maybe later okay?…by later I mean if there's actually a problem…Jesus Giles, shut up! I need you to ask my mother if she could…no, not if she could send us a plane ticket home, I want her to just add another hundred or so dollars to my account…yes, we are traveling for free with Mark, but…look, Willow wants to spend a couple more days here than planned, 'cause we're heading through where some more of her family live…thank you, Giles."

   Buffy rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone. "Thank you, Mr. Stuffy English Bloke."

   Willow came out from the bathroom, drying her hair over one shoulder as she precariously balanced a towel wrapped around her. "Giles," she stated.

   "Yep."

   "Any news from back home?" she questioned, letting her hair-towel drop and running a hand through her wet red hair. 

   Buffy shrugged, watching her friend attempt to find matching clothes in her bag. "Um…Faith ran into the Percy West guy again, apparently."

   Willow glanced over in disbelief. "I though he said he was running as fast as he could to Australia or whatever away from all us crazy people."

   Before she could answer there was a knock on the door, and Willow flicked her head towards it before walking back into the bathroom. "You get that?"

   Buffy, with a sigh, got off her bed and opened the door. Meeting light blue eyes, she raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

   "Are you…Willow?" the guy questioned.

   "No, Willow'll be out in a second. Who are you?" she demanded, studying his face for any sign she might have met him before. Geez, this place had a lot of cute guys…long blond hair, blue eyes, smile to die for, cutest little goatee…she had to fight the urge to fan herself when she realized the guy wasn't wearing a shirt, displaying yummyness of the…off track now.

   "Then you must be Buffy."

   "Yeah…"

   He stuck his hand out, and she took it, a curious and suspicious look on her face. The guy seemingly didn't notice. "Mark sent me up here to tell you that we're leaving soon."

   "Uh huh…still, who are you?" Buffy questioned again.

   The blond grinned apologetically. "Sorry, I get distracted a lot. The name's Christian."

   "Yeah, man?" Jeff questioned, tipping a bag of popcorn into his hand and munching, watching the elder man pace.

   Matt sighed heavily, dropping onto his bed and motioning Jeff to do the same. "I'm guessing this is a bad thing…" Jeff continued slowly.

   "Kind of."

   "Kind of as in kind of, or kind of as in I-don't-know-what-the-hell-we're-up-against?"

   "The second one."

   Jeff raised an eyebrow. "This doesn't involve killing witch hunters again, does it?"

   Matt shook his head, then stopped. "Maybe."

   Jeff snorted. "You know, the second you told me we needed to chat, I thought 'great. More death'. Hoping here that it doesn't include ours." He punctuated the sentence at various points with a wave of a popcorn kernel before dropping it in his mouth.

   "Me too." Matt looked serious for a moment before falling back on the bed.

   Jeff sighed. "I'm getting the 'big brother knows more than he's telling' vibe right now. It's actually kind of comforting, 'cause it's so _freakin'_ FAMILIAR!"

   A muffled groan came from the bed. "Uh huh. Who was the one who conveniently _forgot_ to tell me that those guys in our camp were actual wolves?"

   Green eyes were rolled. "Geez Matt, let go of the past already. That was ten years ago, give me a break."

   "I swear man, my life flashed before my eyes. I was thinking I would die without even realizing your real level of childishness."

   Jeff gave his brother the worldwide one finger salute. "Really dude, what's the serious for?"

   Matt sighed, throwing his hands over his face so his voice came out slightly stifled. "You wouldn't happen to have bumped into two new women yesterday, would you?"

   "The redhead and the brunette? Yeah. What's this got to do with them?" 

   "You didn't notice anything strange about them?"

   Jeff started picking at his chipped nail polish. "Besides the fact that the redhead's a witch?"

   Matt raised an eyebrow. "Didn't notice that, but…the brunette's a Slayer."

   That probably wasn't the best timing, Matt mused. Jeff had just thrown a piece of popcorn up in the air and it had come down into Jeff's mouth, it then getting caught in Jeff's throat, as he started coughing and spluttering. "What's this?" he managed between deep breaths. "As in one per generation to fight all evil crap?"

   "Yep."

   Jeff fell back on the bed. He was quiet for so long Matt got concerned. Standing and walking over to where his younger brother lay, he sat down next to him. He looked so innocent, so young, lying there with strands of natural blond hair floating over his face. Matt smiled slightly, twirling a lock of Jeff's hair around a finger. "Grrr," Jeff pretend-growled, blinking his eyes.

   Matt regained the serious look. "Another thing. They're with Mark."

   Jeff fell silent, closing his eyes. "Did she realize what you were?"

   A small smirk appeared on Matt's face. "Not then…I dream-shared last night, with Buffy…that's her name. I was being chased by Mark, and then she was there, and we had a whole conversation…"

   Pulling his head back slightly, Jeff regarded his sibling. "Involving?"

   Matt heaved a sigh. "She knows I know she's the Slayer."

   "Bravo."

   "Thank you, thank you."

   They were silent, until Jeff broke the quiet. "You don't think she will find out…about me and Kara?" he questioned.

   Matt shrugged softly, seeing the genuine pain in Jeff's eyes. "I don't know, man."

   Kara was a name that hadn't been mentioned around the brothers Hardy for quite a while…thirteen years, actually.

   Must have been another Slayer before the Buffy was called, though.

   Kara had died ten years ago…and Buffy didn't look like she had been slaying for that long.

   Willow watched the scenery pass by. She was lost, the quiet time sending her thoughts inward as she analyzed everything about this trip so far. Mark…same as usual. The arena was nice, soda and candy machines just outside their locker room which was a plus. The hotel room was a little small as predicted, but it had all necessary things as well as a video channel, where Buffy and she…or was it she and Buffy?…had stayed up late ordering old WWE events. Most were from 1999 backwards, and it was fun to see Mark's old character emerge as well as his brother's. 

   Then again…the mystery man…geez, he had hit something inside her…that spider sense that tingled, kept tingling, was still tingling. The black haired one…and that blond…both felt so…connected, to both her and each other.

   They felt so familiar, like an old pair of jeans that ended about five inches after the end of your feet and were too loose in the butt and too tight around the hips but you love them anyway and this wasn't going to be going anywhere G rated, was it?

   Green and brown, the eyes, matching her and Buffy's…except for the kinda part where the brunette's were filled with amusement or whatever and the blond's was a little more relaxed than she usually was…

   And they knew so much…

   This was starting too get annoying.

   She had too many thoughts.

   Matt yawned. Jeff glanced at him, and yawned as well. Matt smiled a little, and jumped up on to the bed. He lay down, head on the pillow, and let out a contented sigh.

   His stomach was suddenly pressed on as Jeff joined him on the bed, curling up by his side. Jeff scratched his nose, licked his paw and fell asleep…typical.

   Matt moved his head, plopping it on Jeff's back. He sighed again, and proceeded to sleep.

Ahh…interesting choice of words in the last few paragraphs, were they not? Tankies to all who have reviewed!

Uh…if the eventual pairings seem a little confusing, here's a tip: I'm planning to get a Willow romance in here somewhere, but I'm not sure about Buffy, Should I or shouldn't I and if so, who with?


	3. Deceptions

   Edge whistled lightly as he walked. He grinned predatorily. Oh yeah…he was happy.

   Why?

   He got to kick the crap out of Storm, Regal and…Christian...in one night.

   How?

   Six-man tag.

   When?

   Tonight.

   Where?

   The next city, Chicago.

   Another how?

   No DQ.

   Where was he?

   Standing outside the Hardyz' door.

   He grinned again, his trademark psychotic grin. Once the whole Alliance muck started, all rivalries became pretty much null and void…except for Jericho and Rock, and everyone knew how that turned out. The Hardyz were pretty nice guys; it was just a pity that Christian didn't get to find that out.

   At the second thought of his brother that morning he lost his smile, and was suddenly overcome with weariness. Christian…dammit, he couldn't think on this track. If he thought about it too long he would do the same thing he did the night after…the night after Toronto, and cry his eyes out.

   He had spent too long that night wishing he knew why his brother did that. First the hug, where Edge detected the smallest hint of wet eyes, the first chairshot, then destroying the King of the Ring trophy…then the con-chair-to. God, that one-man con-chair-to hurt worse than the entire TLC series put together.

   Edge wiped his eyes quickly, then took a deep breath and held it. He exhaled, and knocked on the door.

   As the not-totally-closed door opened under the slight force, the blonde looked around slightly. Then he blinked. And blinked again. The door slammed in his face, and he scratched his head.

   _Um…what the hell?_

   _Ah crap,_ Matt thought, quickly nosing Jeff awake. His younger brother yawned, pressing his face more firmly into the pillow.

   "Get up!" Matt hissed between his teeth. Jeff stretched. "C'mon!"

   There was another knock at the door. He walked to the door, taking his time as he picked up random things off the floor and threw them furiously at his brother. He faked a yawn, and turned the doorknob as he rubbed his eyes.

   "Hi Edge," he said, putting on a sleepy air. Matt checked his wrist, trying not to smile at the confused look on his friend's face. "What's the time?"

   "Was there just like a pair of puppies in here or something?" Edge asked bewilderedly, ignoring the question.

   Matt looked confused, moving slightly to block the room from Edge's gaze. "Puppies? As in dogs or as in females?"

   "Dogs."

   "No," a voice answered from behind Matt. Jeff was visible to Edge for a moment, jumping up from behind Matt to see who was at their door. He bounced again, waving this time. "Hi Edge!"

   Mat turned, watching his brother literally bounce his way to the bathroom. "How long have we got before our bus leaves?" He turned back to the blonde at the door and could hardly contain a snicker. The look of confusion on Edge's face was priceless!

   "We've got forty-five minutes…are you sure there weren't any dogs in here," Edge half-questioned.

   "Dogs?…Edge, you've had too many brass knux shots lately," Matt said, shaking his head. "Go see a therapist or somethin'." He closed the door, and couldn't help it

   He fell on the bed and laughed.

   Matt hadn't lied…exactly. Jeff had been the one to say there had been no animals in the room. And anyway, there hadn't been dogs in the room.

   Edge didn't ask whether there had been and wild animals in the room.

   The eldest Hardy winced slightly as he looked over the bed. Short dark hairs were spread everywhere…"Jeff! It's your turn to clean up this mess!"

   Buffy watched as her friend quickly settled into the front seat of the bus. She debated joining her, when she saw the expression on Will's face. Before she could properly decide, a warm body pressed into her and a voice whispered in her ear. "I suggest you sit before people start squishing you." Taking the guy's advice, she slid into the nearest seat before she turned to actually see him. He glanced around the vehicle sheepishly before glancing at the seat next to her. "Uh…can I sit here?"

   She smiled. "If you want to."

   He smiled back; sitting in the seat so a blond behind him could pass by. The man held out his hand. "The name's Y2J."

   "Really? I don't know too many people with initials for names," Buffy said, accepting his hand. She mentally kicked herself. _How _stupid_ sounding was that, Summers?_

   He laughed. "Remind me to introduce you to RVD. Or HBK."

   "Geez, this company is weird."

   "You haven't even got to 'aitch aitch aitch' yet," he pouted.

   Buffy's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "There is actually a guy called HHH?"

   He shrugged. "Actually, RVD is just short for Rob Van Dam, HBK is Shawn Michaels, and HHH is usually called Triple H or Hunter Hearst Helmsley."

   The girl made a face. "I can understand why he goes by Triple H. But how do you get HBK from Shawn Michaels?"

   "Heartbreak Kid."

   "That'd work."

   "And Y2J is just a nickname. The name's Chris."

   Buffy grinned. "A real name, finally."

   "So do I get your real name?" the guy…_Chris_…questioned, raising his hand as if to run it through his hair. He gave her a self-mocking roll of the eyes as he realized it was in a ponytail.

   "Maybe," she said coyly, glancing out the window as they stopped at a traffic light.

   Chris smiled.

   Willow was aware of someone slipping into the seat beside her. She ignored them.

   That was until the person grabbed her arm.

   "Hey!" she protested. Turning, she saw Mark staring at her.

   "What have you told people?" he asked. Willow grimaced slightly. His cologne smelt like lemons.

   She hated lemons.

   As his words sunk in her brow wrinkled in confusion. "I haven't told anyone anything."

   "Don't lie to me Willow."

   "I'm not!" she insisted. "The only people I've talked to since I got here was Buffy, you, this guy called Chuck and a blonde I ran into in the hallway."

   Mark frowned. "Blonde?"

   "Yeah, a blonde. As in dumb as a?" Willow said sarcastically. She was suddenly confronted with just how big Mark really was.

   "Describe him," Mark commanded.

   "Uh, as I said, blonde shoulder-length hair. Green eyes, kinda like mine. Singlet and cargoes. Anything else?" Willow asked. She was getting real uncomfortable now.

   Mark looked stumped for a minute before an expression of rage passed over his features. "About six-one, got a constant wrinkle on his forehead?"

   "Uh…more six foot," she said, shifting in her seat. She was totally aware of Mark's scrutiny.

   Mark cursed.

   "What's wrong?" Willow questioned in concern.

   The man turned his gaze back at her and she was struck both the darkness and the hatred in his eyes. He spoke slowly. "If you ever see him again, you will turn around and walk away."

   "What are you, my mother?" Willow asked, already rebelling against the idea. Why, she didn't know. It was probably that nasty rebellious phase her mother kept insisting she was going through rearing its ugly head again.

   Mark slowly lost the look. "I'm sorry Wills," he sighed. "But he's dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt."

   "Who is he?" Willow persisted, but Mark had already slid out of the seat.

   A short haired brunette poked his head over the chair in front.

   "I apologise for eavesdropping," he said seriously. "But I know who you were just describing. Trust me, he's not all that dangerous…without provocation. Then he goes a little nuts."

   "Who is he?" she repeated.

   The guy looked wary for a moment. "Mark'll kill me," he warned.

   Willow gave an easy shrug. "I'll tell him I found it on a website somewhere."

   Serious Dude nodded uncertainly. "Well, he's not usually like that," he said. "His hair is dyed a heap of weird colours for one thing. His name is Jeff. Jeff Hardy."

   Before Willow could say anything, Serious Dude continued, "But I wouldn't go near him all the same."

   "Why not?"

   "Let's just say your cousin or whatever and Jeff Hardy aren't exactly bosom buddies. Mark tell you about him and Triple H?"

   Willow shook her head.

   Serious Dude shrugged. "Well, they hate each other. Loathe each other. Can't stand the ground the other one walks on. That's what Mark and Jeff Hardy are like. Seriously hate each other."

So we get a bit more insight into the Hardy mystery…I'm still taking advice as to the romances here. There _will_ be a Buffy romance, as well as a Willow. Question is, who?

MiSERY HaRDY: I'll explain in further chappies…bit more detail, background stories and stuff.

To angeleyes, Iaren, Kittie Kittie Kittie: Tankies!

monica: As has been said, tankies! And the actual wrestling part will have little to do with it (although it might be a little hard to get in the beginning) but if you ever need any story on any wrestling character, I'm only an email away.

Sk8terBratz0057: I'll take him into consideration…hmmm, I've never written him in before, would be fun…

bellerophon:…wow. One of my fav writers on fanfiction.net has reviewed! WOOOOOOOO!…um…yeah… And I know what you mean about the Faith/Willow/Buffy thing, and although I personally can take it and even like it in moderation you need some variety once in a while. As for the pairing, you never know…

SpitefulHope: Yea…double take time, wasn't it?

OnThaEdge487: I know…Matt/Sean was a little disturbing for me too. Kinda weird to do something other than the (less legal) pairing I usually do with Matt.

Kamikazee: Too many stories do make her into a bitch, don't they? But there is going to be some Buffy-bitch in here…kinda…but it is justified. Everyone's hoarding a secret inner-bitch, why not the Buffster?


	4. Actions

   Matt rubbed his hands together, grinning at the air. Christian, Lance Storm and that bastard Regal tonight. He really had no problem with the British man, except for the fact that he had been using brass knux against one of his friends...and that he had attacked Lita a couple of times...and that he had pretty much used the then-WWF in the whole E/WCW war. Annoying little wussy pissant... 

His thoughts were disturbed as he walked into someone. He instinctively caught them by the upper arms as they both teetered, stopping them both from falling over.

"Sorry," he apologized, kneeling and picking up a bag the...he now realized was a woman...had dropped. He gave it to her, his mind still preoccupied with thoughts of tonight's match. Now, ideas...maybe he could convince the others to get Edge and maybe Jeff in line for a con-chair-to on Regal...sweet...

Matt quickly patted her on the shoulder muttering another apology. He passed her, thoughts intent on the no-DQ six-man tag later that night.

So Buffy was left to wonder what the hell had been up his butt the first time she saw him. And why exactly she hadn't jumped him for the poorly disguised threat back in Mark's locker room. "Always next time," she muttered absently. 

He was bouncing again.

"Calm down, boy," Rob said. "Save some of that for the match."

Jeff gave him a silly grin, still literally bouncing in and out of various lockers. "No can do...I'm not in control!" he said spookily, reaching out to Rob like a stereotypical ghost. The image of a blue-haired North Carolinian trying to scare Mr Laid-Back RVD would have been slightly freaky to anyone else, to say the least.

Rob pushed him away with a grin. "My oh my," he remarked with mock-shock. "I thought Matt was the only Hardy Boy hot for me?"

Jeff shrugged easily. "No matter what you might think, I'm not interested in anyone with a Y chromosome."

   At that moment Spike Dudley stuck his head in the door, waving at Jeff before turning to Rob. "Yo, VD, you comin' or what?"

   The self-proclaimed 'Mr Monday Night' got up and slapped Jeff on the back. "Find your bro. I hear Sean's looking for him."

   Jeff nodded, still slightly bouncing. He bounced even higher, grinning, remembering the look on Edge's face yesterday. Just in time too; if he had knocked a few moments earlier _that_ would have taken a bit of convincing. Luckily the blonde hadn't seen a big part of it…that would have been hard to explain away. He must have been zonked after the little fight with Matt…all he could remember was growling and biting, then blissful sleep. Jeff slowed down his jumping down a little, timing it with his breathing.

   Breathe and bounce.

   Breathe and bounce.

   He leaned his head against the locker, smiling at the coolness. Breathe and bounce…

   Willow peeked out her fringe as the two reasonably-large men walked out of a locker room just behind her. Unintentionally she overheard part of their conversation as they followed her.

   "So Matt and Sean definitely broke up?" the smaller of the two questioned

   The larger man nodded. "The Almighty Hyper-Active One told me Matt told him this morning. Apparently Sean is as big of a slut as his reputation."

   Smaller raised an eyebrow, pushing his broken glasses further up his nose. "I can buy that. Sean is totally not heartbroken. He was hanging off Hunter last I saw."

   "Hanging off as in around or hanging off as in attached to his ass?"

   "So polite aren't you Rob?"

   Rob grinned, keeping the grin to flash at Willow as they overtook her. "Being polite means not saying a lot of crap you want to say."

   "Being polite has gotten me five girlfriends since I left e-see-dub alone. How many girlfriends have you had?" the man asked cattily as they faded out of Willow's hearing range.

   The sound of Spike Dudley getting smacked upside the head echoed throughout the hallway.

   Willow shook her head, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms loosely in front. "Interesting place."

   "Isn't it?" a female voice asked from behind her.

   Willow jumped, her hand on her chest. "Geez Buff, don't do that!" she reprimanded.

   The Slayer just shrugged, peering over Willow's shoulder to watch the two men disappear around the corner. "Nice guys?"

   The redhead shrugged. "All I could get was a neat piece of gossip that someone called Matt broke up with someone called Sean."

   Buffy nodded, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Uh huh," she said slowly. "And you know this how?"

   Willow dropped her eyes to the floor. "I listened."

   "Willow, I'm surprised at you," Buffy scolded. "Listening in on private conversations like that!"

   " 'Scuze me, ladies," a gentle southern voice said from behind them. They parted quickly allowing a fairly tall man to get through. As he walked down the hallway Buffy really looked at the back of his head. Suddenly suspicious, she padded quietly after him, stopping just behind him. 

   "Matthew!" she hissed softly.

   The guy turned and that was enough. 

   Willow watched in disbelief as Buffy jumped on the guy's back, punching blindly for all she was worth.

   _Um, Willow? What are you doing just standing there?_

   She broke into a jog but stopped just outside the circle of the fight. The scuffle was completely ignored by several people at the end of the hallway.

   Willow was suddenly pushed aside as another fairly tall man jumped into the fight. She wasn't afraid for Buffy-there was a reason she was called 'ball-breaker' back in Sunnydale behind her back-but she was concerned that Buffy couldn't use full power on these guys because-as far as she knew-they were human.

   The second guy grabbed Buffy around the waist and threw her off, almost slamming her into a wall. With a quick shake to clear her head, Buffy was back up again and ready to fight. She looked confused, and Willow glanced to the two men to see the centre of her confusion.

   The first man was the infamous Matthew that had held Mark at knifepoint.

   The second was the man they had run into the first day they were here…according to Serious Dude, this was the iniquitous Jeff Hardy.

   Jeff growled softly at his brother so the ladies nearby couldn't hear. "What did you do this time?"

   Matt looked injured. "What makes you think I did something?"

   Jeff looked thoughtful. "Um…because you're my brother?" he asked innocently.

   "Just because we share the same parents don't mean I got your suicidal tendencies."

   His brother pouted. Before he could retaliate a female voice broke into their conversation. "Who are you two?"

   Willow helped Buffy up and the Slayer brushed herself off before glancing up to wait for an answer.

   With a hand to Jeff's chest Matt stepped forward. Instantly Buffy moved forward as well, her nose almost touching Matt's chest. She glared at him defiantly. 

   He unexpectedly smiled, and she mentally raised an eyebrow. _Mmmmmmm…yummy. Dangerous, is he. Adds to yummyness._ Although Matthew was a total stranger she had never let that fact sway her from a good perv before. A grin with all the danger of Spike's-the evil vamp was kinda cute before he buggered off- combined with dark, seductive eyes and a lock of black falling over aforementioned black eyes made a very nice eye candy picture.

   "We seem to keep running into one another, don't we?" he questioned. 

Buffy kept her expression guarded. "That we do."

"My name is Matt."

"People call me Buffy," she said icily. She studied him again. Same as her dream…

"All people?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "All people who don't want a black eye."

He nodded slightly, a full-fledged smile breaking out…the only difference from her dream last night, although not much of one.

"You know what I'm going to say now, don't you?" he challenged.

   Buffy scowled, hand on her hip. "No, you can not call me Slayer."

   "Um, could we take this conversation somewhere more private?" Willow asked timidly. The brown-haired man spared her a glance, sizing her up. She blushed slightly as he stared.

   The blonde…well, blue-haired now…smiled at her and sidled up behind her, to the side slightly of the two people face-to-face. "I'm Jeff," he whispered lightly, his breath sending pleasant shivers down her spine.

   "And as much as Jeff would love to stay, we have a match now," Matt added, checking his watch.

   Suddenly a dim music started playing, and Matt cursed, jogging backwards to yell "C'mon Jeff!"

   "That's our opponent's music," Jeff explained quickly as he ran after his disappearing friend. "See you soon."

   Buffy exchanged a glance with Willow. "We are so going to watch the next match," Buffy decided.

   Christian winced slightly as Lance's music hit. _So much for 'At last, your own your own',_ he thought. Lance shot him a look, before softening it. "C'mon Chris," he said quietly. The other Canadian managed a slight smile. "Get me in there with Edge as much as possible," he offered, sneering a little at the crowd as Regal's music blared.

   The longhaired Canadian knew instinctively what his friend meant. Getting Regal in there would be just bad, and he himself didn't want to fight Edge too much. Now, if they could just get to Regal and convince him they should work over the youngest Hardy…predictably they would ground him, maybe get a couple of tags before he inevitably hit a corkscrew moonsault, getting a tag hopefully to his brother, who cleans house, then bring in a chair or something, hit the legal man, whoever else is legal gets the pin, run out of there like bats out of hell…

   _Like the jerks we are._

   Lance looked at him again and he suddenly realized that he had muttered that last bit out loud.

   "Sorry," he said quietly. He scanned the arena, mentally smiling at a sign that proclaimed that Edge should piss in Regal's tea a la Chris Jericho.

   He exchanged a glance with Lance…_Hey, that kinda rhymes,_…as the Hardy music hit. Lance moved to talk with Regal as he was left to mentally bop along with the music. Christian moved as Matt Hardy ran/walked/danced towards his corner, but just a bit.

   Christian stared as Matt likewise stared out into the crowd…so close that if he wanted to he could pull him down for a snake eyes on the turnbuckle. That was…if he wanted to.

   He was too tired…a proper nights' sleep had eluded him since…well, actually, it had just steadily been getting worse since he had turned on Edge, but it had culminated in the last week getting a total of maybe ten hours' sleep. But…ever since Mark had sent him to get those girls…they were both beautiful, that was for sure; but nothing had been stirred up majorly, like a crush or anything. Something was just a little…off.

   Christian was exhausted mentally too. _I'm tired of being an asshole, using underhanded crap. I want to win just one match clean. That's all I ask. One match._

_You think you know me…_

   Lance watched as one of his tag partners for the night drifted off into thought. Christian had been a godsend in the Alliance, since his only friends before that had been Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible. Tommy was a little too much like everyone's friend for his liking, and Justin…well, Justin was usually too busy moping about 'losing' Sean to Matt Hardy to pay attention to anything not directly connected to the 'love of his life' or the eldest Hardy and his stealing ways.

   Christian…Lance could truthfully say that Christian was one of the nicest and most honest guys he had ever met. There had never been many questions about him turning on Edge…quite frankly, Lance didn't want to know the answers. Everyone was entitled to a mistake or two in their lives. They deserved to keep them in privacy.

   As Regal stared over at Christian's brother, the bell rang. Both Hardyz ducked out, and he lightly pushed Regal to the apron. Lance let his trademark blandness slip over his face as he and Edge tangled up…_Ah, crap._

   He kept on the mask of indifference even as he heard a ladder coming out from his opponents' side.


	5. Reactions

Disclaimer: No own.

Author: Chimera

Title: Pretences (5/?)

Summary: Lots of meaningless conversations.

Notes: This is getting nowhere fast. I have decided on pairings. Ain't that great? And medical info is totally made up. I have no idea of whether or not a concussion can do that to a person, but eh. I hate school. And I'm just pretending this is schoolwork so I can stay up late. And the whole 'what the heck are they?' question should be answered in the next chapter.

   Buffy's jaw dropped.

   Willow's did the same.

   "Ho…lee-"

   "-shit," Willow finished her friend's sentence.

   Buffy nodded vacantly. "Yeah. That."

   "Um, ow?" Buffy offered a few moments later.

   "Totally."

   "Yay," Willow said, nearly five minutes of awed silence later. "It's over."

   Buffy blinked at the screen, which still showed the remnants of the match – a broken ladder, broken table, at least three dented chairs, and a busted announcer's table.

   The picture then moved to the ramp, where the defeated team was limping toward the back. With a flick of light hair, one turned and glanced at the blonde haired man in the ring. He stopped, forcing the dark haired man leaning on him to stop too.

   Edge kept his eyes clear as he stared at his younger brother. "Maybe one day, Chrissie," he whispered under his breath. "One day." He turned and helped Matt pull his brother upright from the rubble of the broken table.

   "I hope so, Edge," Christian whispered back, ignoring Lance's silent sympathy.

   Lance's dark eyes skated from brother to brother, taking in the soundless emotion between the two of them. "Have you talked to your family lately?" he asked Christian quietly, making sure it was low enough that Regal couldn't hear.

   Christian swallowed, lightly pulling Lance to a position a little higher around his neck. "Gram Edna's the only one who wants to talk to me. But she's in that nursing home, and she's sick, so whenever I try to see her I run into my mother or Edge…and they get security to 'politely ask me to leave'." He tried to keep the emptiness from his voice, and very nearly succeeded.

   Lance grimaced as he heard the light quiver in the other Canadian's voice. "Can you help me to the EMTs?" he asked instead.

   "Sure," Christian answered, thankfulness palpable in his tone that the topic had shifted from his family to nice, safe, although painful topics. "You have a concussion? That con-chair-to hit you pretty hard."

   "I think I'm fine."

   "You sure?"

   "I think I'm fine."

   Matt grimaced as he lay Jeff down on one of the beds in the medical room. "Baby bro, can you hear me?" he asked, his voice raised slightly above normal level as he tried to stay calm. 

   Lance glanced over at the worried Hardy, icepack pressed to his temple.

   The brunette took no notice, absently tucking a lock of errant blue behind his brother's ear. "C'mone Jeff," he said coaxingly, for all the world sounding like someone trying to cajole an animal closer. "Wake up Nero."

   "You can go get changed if you want, Hardy," Lance offered. "I'll keep an eye on him."

   Matt gave him a sceptical glance. "Uh huh. Here's the guy that gave you a concussion. He's unconscious." Matt made a mock scale with his hands, physically weighing up the options. He raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't really compute."

   Lance sighed. "It's the concussion talking. And it'll keep me awake for a while."

   The brunette scowled. He really had no reason to think that Lance would lie…the Canadian was notorious for his good behaviour during concussions. One of the more corruptible elements of the WWE locker room…

   "I'll be five minutes, tops. He's more injured when I get back, I will rip off your arm, cook it, and feed it to you. You got me?" Matt asked calmly.

   "Perfectly."

   "Glad we understand each other."

   Matt exited the room, sending a last concerned look to his sibling.

   "Ah crap."

   Buffy smiled wickedly at Matt, who looked a tad exhausted. "That was one hell of a match," she remarked. She uncrossed her legs, pressing herself off the opposite wall she had been leaning on and walking up to the oldest Hardy.

   "Thanks. I like hearing opinions of people I really couldn't give a damn about."

   The Slayer mocked hurt. "Ouch." Her voice sharpened. "I believe we were going to have a discussion."

   Matt sighed, sitting and untying his wrestling boots. "We were. And then my brother got knocked out. Kinda changed my plans."

   "Doesn't change mine."

   The brunette stood, and Buffy stood at the ready. He smiled at her slight movement. "I believe to have a discussion you need two participants. Have fun having a talk to yourself." He undid his belt, and Buffy's eyes widened. She spun quickly on her heel, just in time, as she heard the faint noise of the rest of Matt's wrestling attire hit the floor. He continued as if all was normal. "I am still willing to talk, but just not now."

   "Good."

   There was a period of silence, in which Buffy fidgeted nervously as various noises were heard from behind her.

   "Do you have any siblings?"

   The question came from nowhere, so admittedly the Slayer jumped a little. "No," she replied quickly, determined not to send any factor of her surprise to this stranger.

   There came a slight snort from behind her. "Trust me, you may never want any." She could almost _feel_ Matt staring a hole through her head. "They're hell."

   "Then why are you so worried?"

   Matt sent a smiling glance back at the Slayer, projecting his voice slightly. "That's why they are hell."

   Buffy digested this for a moment before the lack of noise made her frown. "I'm turning around," she said, and bare milliseconds later she did so.

   And stared.

   The room was empty. 

   "Hardy."

   The sound of his name in that familiar voice made Matt stop in his tracks. He slumped tiredly. "What?"

   Christian caught up with him and took in the expression on Matt's face. His own fell. "You hate my guts." he said in a perfectly clipped voice. "Fine. Is Lance really okay?"

   The brunette blinked. "You care about someone?"

   The blonde had to fight down a tiny little voice that screamed for him to slap him. Hard. "Lance is my friend. Do you know how he is or do I have to shadow you to the infirmary?"

   "He's got a concussion."

   Christian exhaled thankfully, glad it wasn't anything worse. "A bad one?"

   "There's such a thing as a good one?" Matt questioned.

   "Oh bloody 'ell." Christian started walking down the hall quickly, the way Matt had been going.

   The eldest Hardy was left to blink at the strange exchange and follow the blonde towards the sickbay. 


	6. Recriminations

Disclaimer: You would have to be nuts to believe I own anything in here except for the insanity that is the plot. All is Joss Whedon's and various wrestlers'.

Author: Chimera.

Rating: PG-13/14

Part: 6/?

Warnings: Swearing, slash, characters sometimes – only sometimes – acting weird, bad movies.

Notes: I had a dream last night about yellow kittens, caused by me watching the slashiness that was WrestleMania XIX all night. That of course has nothing to do with the story, I just thought you all should know. This chapter was also delayed slightly by me being sick to the point of hallucinations for 48 hours. I still feel like crap, and my neighbour's dog attacking me didn't really help on the typing side of things especially when it nearly took off the tip of my right index finger.

Pairings: Matt/Buffy, Jeff/Willow, Lance/Christian, mentions of Sean/Matt, Sean/Hunter and Sean/Justin, perceivable Rob/Spike.

   "Lance?"

   The Canadian grinned weakly at his friend, his eyes dropping slightly. "Kwissie…" he drawled, slurring a bit.

   "Oh no you don't," Christian ordered, propping his friend up as Lance almost fell over.

   Lance's gaze slid from Christian to Matt Hardy, who deigned to enter the room and headed straight over to his brother. "He hasn't woken up," he said helpfully.

   "Dammit," Matt cursed under his breath. He shot Lance a look, then softened it as he noticed Lance's nearly child-like state of tired giddiness. "Thanks Lance."

   Christian blinked at the uncharacteristic sentence, but shook himself out of it. "C'mon Lance, let's go watch some bad movies on cable."

   "Can we rent Space Troopers?" Lance asked, his face lighting up.

   The blonde groaned. "You'll be the one keeping me awake then, dude."

   They continued arguing as they exited the room. 

   Matt shook his head in amazement. Those two were…weird. His attention was drawn from the two Canadians to a groan on the table. Jeff blinked his eyes open, puzzled green meeting concerned brown.

   "How're you feeling, li'l bro?" Matt whispered.

   Jeff blinked a few more times. "Like I just went through a handicap table match with all the Dudleyz plus a no holds barred match with Kane."

   "Close."

   His younger brother let out a groan, closing his eyes. "Matt?"

   "Yeah?"

   "Next time we have a no DQ match, can you please remove all ladders from under the ring?"

   "Sure."

   Jeff let out another weak answering moan.

   Jeff entered their locker room first.

   "Ah crap."

   He limped to one of the benches along the side of the room. Willow nearly moved to assist him, but Buffy stopped the movement with a quick shake of her head. "I hope now's a good time?" she asked with mock sweetness. 

   "We want to know a lot of things." At Matt's eye roll, she said pointedly, "Now."

   Matt and Jeff exchanged a glance. Willow could easily see the worry in both their eyes, as well as a touch of…fear?

   "I'm wai-ting," Buffy sing-songed. "Tell me something I don't know."

   "When I was three I started gymnastics and got to the highest level when I was seven." Matt lifted an eyebrow at Buffy. "Betcha didn't know that."

   The Slayer growled.

   Jeff had to fight back a snort at Matt's amused, detached expression. "Ask and we shall answer."

   "What the hell are you?"

   "In pain."

   "Stop fucking avoiding the question!" Buffy shouted, her last shred of patience abruptly snapping.

   Matt smiled. Oh, how he loved making people uncomfortable. "Oooo, I'm scared," he mocked.

   "I'm the frickin' Slayer, you should be scared."

   Matt and Jeff both dropped the smartass act. "Fine? You want to know about us?" Jeff questioned rhetorically. He got up so he was looking Buffy straight in the eye, emerald fire on obscure brown. "My first girlfriend was a Slayer. I was next to her when she died – not from vampires or demons, but by a stupid mistake of mine – my mistake, and she was the one who fuckin' died." His voice was calm and composed all the way through, but the glint of danger was obvious. "My mistake was believing she could understand that I couldn't change who I was; not for her, not for Matt, not even for myself."

   Buffy raised an eyebrow.  
   "She attacked me!" he nearly screamed. "She attacked me and I…I clawed her, it was an accident. It was an accident," he repeated. His eyes drifted over his brother to the Slayer to Willow, begging for understanding. "An accident."

   Matt crossed the room and enfolded his brother in a hug, which he sank willingly into. "Kara's blood and Jeff's blood mixed. She died of blood poisoning – Slayer blood has a couple of extra hormones and ours is missing quite a few. The doctors diagnosed it as anaemia and she died, activating what I presume was your predecessor or maybe pre-predecessor." 

   "What exactly are you?" Willow asked softly, then bit her lip when she drew Jeff's attention.

   In total opposition of his attitude with Buffy, Jeff nearly wilted as their eyes met. He dropped back onto the bench, looking defeated. "Matt?" he said quietly.

   The brunette dragged a lock of blue hair through his fingers before answering. "We're werewolves."

   Willow relaxed with a heavy exhalation. "Oh, that's okay then. I thought you were like vampires without souls or Gar'on'lai demons – I'm alright with werewolves. I mean, I dated one, so that'd be a tad hypocritical of me wouldn't it? And it's not like you *chose* to become werewolves, right? How were you bitten? Oh no, stupid me, you probably don't want to talk about-"

   "Shut up Wills," Buffy said softly.

   Willow became obediently quiet, zipping and buttoning her lips together as she sat on one of the benches marking out the room.

   "Why are you so mad at Mark?" Buffy asked quietly, directing her question at Matt – Jeff looked like he had seemingly fallen asleep from exhaustion, apart from occasional blinks and sleepy growls directed at Buffy when she came too close to his older brother.

   Matt's eyes opened wide in disbelief. "You don't know?" he asked, voice reflecting his expression. "Mark is a miserable son-of-a-bitch that tried to kill one of our best friends – Lita's off for another nine months thanks to a neck injury. He's knows we're weres, and he's tried to end our careers a heap of times-"

   "And I would have succeeded," a deep voice boomed from the doorway.

   Jeff jerked away, and stood next to his brother, both tensed and ready. Buffy moved away from the two men, instinctively taking a position in front of Willow.

   Mark had found them.


End file.
